
1. 63% say to replace the Speaker of the House John Boehner. Only 30% say he should stay.
2. 54% say that it is a bad thing that the GOP controls the House. Only 38% say it is a good thing. I don’t think it is a bad idea for the opposition party to control the House or Senate. It offers some checks and balances. However,
it can get out of hand, as it did this time.
3. Only 12% approve of the job that Congress is doing. 86% disapprove.
4. 44% approve of the President’s performance while 52%
disapprove.
What galls me is when any politician claims to speak for the American people, especially when the polls say just the opposite (http://clicktotweet.com/sf768). If anyone can speak for the American people, it would be the President. All other elected officials can speak only for their constituents. No one has a hot line to the American public. It is the same as when a religious leader claims to speak for God. I don’t thinks so.
I wrote yesterday about David Rothkopf, who writes regularly for CNN. He is CEO of the FP Group, publishers of Foreign Policy magazine. He had an interesting article on the problems with America.
He says there are five reasons that America is in trouble:
1. The political system is broken
2. Our national conversation has gotten off-track.
3. Governance has become a lost art.
4. We are ignoring the really big problems.
5. The American people have failed their government ... and each other.
I wrote about the first issue yesterday. You can check my archives if you want to read it. Today I will address the second issue. Rothkopf says that, “Our national conversation has gotten off-track.” He says that extremist politicians create tension, incivility and a reluctance to compromise. He says
that we need to defuse the loaded terminology, reinvest in the separation of church and state and call out dangerously divisive ideas, racism, sexism and sheer stupidity, like denying science, history or basic arithmetic. I agree 100%
I am a strong believer is separation of Church and State. I do believe that we do not go far enough. I do not believe that no religion is free unless all are free. That is why I supported doing away with school led prayers. Swearing on a Bible in court proceedings was always a stupid idea. We still have “In God We Trust” on all our currency.
Today, people are more informed today than ever before. If a bus crashes in China and kills several people, we see it on the news in America. We are more aware of what is going on everywhere. Politicians need to tap into social media to find out what the people really want and need.